Recommended Posts

I have seen the term Swimbait used a few times now but I am honestly not sure what a Swimbait is? Can somebody explain and maybe give me some examples of makes and models of lures I can look up that fall into the Swimbait category?

A Swimbait is a large lure that is used to imitate a bluegill, bream, sunfish, etc. they are heavy, large (some times small) they range from (the big ones) 6 in. to 18 in. ,maybe longer! There are smaller swimbaits that are 2 in. to 6 in. There is a category on the right side of Tackle Warehouse they have a ton of swimbaits to choose from and browse. Some people dedicate a rod and reel specially to Swimbaits.

To the OP's second question, "reasonably priced" is subjective. Cost per fish, IMO, hardbaits win. The initial startup cost seems steep but I've caught a TON of fish on my original Mattlures Hardgill I bought a few years ago.

For round numbers, say it's been 100 fish (seriously, conservative estimate). I think back then I paid $50 for the bait. That comes out to $.50 per fish. Compare that to the cost of a bag of senkos or some similar "premium" bag of plastics and it's apparent to me that the hardbait cost per fish is comparable to the soft plastic costs. If you compare it to the hollow belly swimbaits, there is no chance. Those get torn up fairly easily and a lot of times are rendered useless after one fish.

A lot of times it comes down to what you want to catch. Since picking up a swimbait stick many moons ago, my PB has been broken numerous times. My average fish size has increased. I've decided those are the fish I want to catch. It's not for everyone but you never know until you try.

Some quick examples of stuff that will catch you fish, using the low end of the cost spectrum: